Thomas, after showing improved passing during fall camp and winning the statistical battle in Thursday's scrimmage, beat out senior Nate Costa for starting honors in the Ducks' season opener next Saturday against New Mexico at Autzen Stadium.

It will be the first college start for the redshirt sophomore who last played in 2008 but whose fourth-quarter performance against Boise State that season -- 13 of 25 for 210 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception -- gave coaches and fans alike a glimmer of his potential.

About two hours after Friday's light-hearted series of team contests that seemed to relieve some pressure from the 2 1/2 weeks of neck-and-neck competition, the Ducks tweeted the hard news.

Thomas had prevailed, thanks in part to a superior performance (14 of 23, 125 yards, 3 touchdowns) over Costa (17 of 35, 138 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception) in the scrimmage -- the Ducks' only real game-like competition of fall camp.

The scrimmage was closed, so fans and media were left reading the stats as if they were tea leaves. Speaking before the decision was known, Costa chuckled at the attention and admitted he'd probably be doing the same thing.

"It's a fun thing to do that, it's part of being a fan," Costa said. "But being in the situation, I'm not going to read into it."

The quarterbacks spent the rest of Friday afternoon digesting the information -- and unavailable for comment -- before reconvening for dinner and a motivational speech from conditioning coach Jim Radcliffe. Kelly headed north to Portland for what promised to be a lively meeting of the Oregon Club of Portland at the Oregon Convention Center.

"I told my quarterbacks and I knew you guys were going to hunt down our quarterbacks and try to figure out what the answer was," Kelly said at the Portland event Friday night, explaining his decision to break the news publicly on Twitter. "I told my quarterbacks the answer and 10 seconds later I told (athletic department officials) to announce who the quarterback would be."

He said he wouldn't have any further comment on the news until today, when the Ducks open game-week practice.

Before learning the decision, Thomas admitted the competition has been a bit tough mentally and to being "a little nervous" about the announcement.

"Whatever happens, happens," Thomas said.

A lot happened for Thomas this fall. Improved footwork led to much better passing. Previously, the occasional fluttering pass would undo the good ones Thomas delivered. As camp went on, the spirals came nearly every time. He executed the zone reads well, he threw balls away when needed and showed the ability to escape.

Costa, meanwhile, played his game: Crisp passing after some early hiccups, good decision-making, some fleet scoots up the middle on keepers and an ability to get his unit into the end zone.

And Daryle Hawkins assumed the "slash" role of quarterback/running back/receiver, leading the Ducks in receiving (9 catches for 60 yards) in Thursday's scrimmage. True freshman Bryan Bennett, after an extremely impressive camp, awaits his turn.

With Kelly declining to give details and offensive quarterbacks coach Mark Helfrich unavailable for comment, all the factors that went into the decision remain unclear. But it seems in Thomas they saw two things: more of a running threat, and more an upside despite a relative lack of experience -- Costa (38 career passes) has been in the program twice as long as Thomas (33 career passes).

For Costa, his dream of finally grabbing the starting job in his fifth year remains unrealized (he did start one game, at UCLA, last season). But at least it's the end of a discussion that even his mother joined.

"She'll ask me questions, and I'll kind of ignore them," Costa said earlier Friday. "I hate to talk football with my mom. I'll talk football with my coaches or my dad, but I don't want to talk football with my mom."

Asked if he was hearing about the competition from people around town, Thomas said, "Not a lot of people know my face right now."